Portland’s Homeless Services Center (HSC) received a total of 178 intakes in January, including two dozen homeless individuals from out-of-state, according to the city’s Emergency Shelter Assessment Committee (ESAC) January shelter statistics report.
According to the ESAC report, out of the 178 intakes into the HSC last month, 24 homeless individuals came from out-of-state and 81 came from other Maine town.
Just 71 — less than half — were categorized as Portland residents.
Throughout January the HSC had an average of 240 homeless individuals staying at the shelter per night, with the highest shelter count of 262 recorded on Jan. 23.
While many of the out-of-state intakes at the HSC in January are recorded as having come from nearby states, such as New York (4), Massachusetts (2), Vermont (2), and New Hampshire (2), several of the intakes were reported as being from midwestern, southern and west coast states.
Over a six-month period from August 2023 through January 2024, the HSC took in a total of 20 homeless individuals listed as residents of California, 12 from Arizona, and 11 from Florida.
The 24 out-of-state intakes reported in January was the highest number recorded over the six-month period.
Although ESAC lists “out-of-country” as a possible category for shelter intakes, homeless individuals from other countries who arrive in Portland from another state in the U.S. are counted as out-of-state residents.
“Because people are entering the country in other communities then relocating here, what would be considered out of country intakes are captured as out of state,” the ESAC report states.
The report doesn’t provide further rationale for obscuring the true origins of individuals seeking services.
In November, the Portland City Council approved an emergency declaration to expand the HSC’s capacity by 50 beds over its normal 208-bed capacity, which was estimated to cost the city $568,000 over six months.
At their Feb. 5 meeting, the City Council voted unanimously in favor of extending the emergency declaration until June 3, 2024.
According to the city, the opening of a new 179-bed shelter for single asylum-seeking migrants at 166 Riverside Industrial Parkway on Nov. 30, 2023 allowed the city to make 120 beds available at the HSC — indicating that those 120 shelter beds were being used by migrants.
Portland’s Resettlement Program has provided services to an estimated 4,200 asylum-seeking migrants since January 2020, and last week the City Council accepted a $364,000 grant from MaineHousing to extend the program for 12 months.
[RELATED: Mills Admin, Nonprofits, and Big Biz Back New Migrant Resettlement Agency for Maine…]
“The thinking was that in conjunction with our development of 166 Riverside, along with several other partners, that we would be able to get asylum seekers to Riverside [Parkway] to give them the services and direct attention that they needed, and then be able to serve our circumstantially unhoused individuals at the [HSC], which has all of the services that they need specifically on-site,” Portland City Manager Danielle West said during the Feb. 5 City Council meeting.
The increased availability at the HSC aided the city’s Encampment Crisis Response Team (ECRT) in their effort to relocate homeless individuals from the Harbor View Park encampment into the shelter prior to the city clearing the encampment on Jan. 2.
As of Monday, Feb. 12, the city reports a total of 39 tents citywide — down from over 200 tents reported in September, prior to the city’s sweeps of large encampments at the Marginal Way Park and Ride lot and Harbor View Park.
Nice, I wonder when the good people of Portland will tire of supporting the state/country/world with their taxes. Hopefully not too soon, I don’t think they’ve learned their lesson yet. Maybe after the Mexican drug cartels start shooting up the city like they did in Saco but I doubt it.
New Mainers!… I am enjoying all the diversity that is being imposed on our state, run by “well meaning” clowns, aren’t you? (sarcasm filter on). I guess we get these clowns based on our elections, the “new Mainers” that came to our state in previous years with their politics that are now voting, assisted by ranked choice voting. I can’t wait to see what great ideas they come up with next! When the federal fiat runs out, it will undoubtedly involve raising taxes. Im now exploring the option of becoming a “New Floridian”.
Honestly disappointed in the elementary attempt to finally show how they collect data. There are really important details left out of this poor example of keeping records for hundreds of millions of dollars wasted. (If this was for college credit they’d have PHD’s by now, if only lying was a for credit class.) Show the real story, document them all as a requirement of being housed. Get them to file for real ID paper documentation. Fingerprinting, disclosure of mental illness, disclosure of incarceration, disclosure of history of work, disclosure of family and last residence documented. A Civics lesson, where did they attend school, do they have a real drivers license, from what state?
Prison intake would be better source of what needs to be disclosed for treatment of drug abuse, criminal behavior, dangerous mental illness. A DNA swab is the most important record they could willing produce.
Failing to find out who is out there and among us is truly scary.
Shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone with a brain, if the city offers them shelter and services more will come. This has been happening all over the country in cities offering taxpayer funded benefits. They should be give bus tickets to the city of their choice and sent in their way. The taxpayers are paying for far too much already.